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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29226189">It All Ends in Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Control_Room/pseuds/Control_Room'>Control_Room</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Medium (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bad Ending, Death, Endings, Family, Fix-It, Gen, Multiple Endings, Neutral Ending, Post-Canon, Spoilers, Worst Ending, best ending, filling an open ending, good ending, gun - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:20:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,000</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29226189</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Control_Room/pseuds/Control_Room</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The ending is always a tricky thing to come to terms with.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Marianne &amp; Sadness | Lily Rekowicz &amp; Thomas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Ring Around the Rosie</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I wrote this because i felt like the ending of the Medium could have used something definitive, so I made a few endings to fill that for me. Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The Worst Ending.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It all starts with a dead girl.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Two dead girls, to be exact. One who remembered everything, and another who just found everything.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A dead man. He who had almost lost everything, and now, will. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maybe that was how it all ended. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was different to each of them, this girl by the lake, the gunshot ringing into the dark and signalling one’s passing beyond. Marianne thought it was the start, and Thomas deigned that it was the middle, while Lilianne believed it to be the end. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They all were right, in their own ways. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Maw, ferocious, rotting, seeping, pleading, it had jumped at Marianne-- and she fired. Lilianne screamed in despair, reaching for her now lost sister; gone to death. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her scream morphed into one of pain, clutching at her chest as she could feel a hot jab run through her body, bringing her to her knees in agony. The Maw, gripping the same location of the pulsating wound, turned around to see the man, or men, trembling and aiming their gun at him now, having brought himself, finally, to killing his daughter. Perhaps it was Marianne’s death that sealed it for him. Perhaps it was reuniting with himself and listening to reason in a mad rush to save his children. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>You could not save everyone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Life was funny like that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As the Maw descended upon him to devour him inside and out, he could almost feel himself smile. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He could not save anyone-- no one at all. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. But Nobody Came</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The Bad Ending.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>There is only one gunshot. That was all it took. Marianne’s lifeless body fell backwards into the lake. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lily rushed towards her, ignoring the angered yells and yaps of the Maw, screeching about how now, there would be no skin to fit it, no flesh to hold it, no, no, no! Why did she leave? Why did she send herself away? Now, he was trapped again, left to rot outside in the cold. He could care less about Lilianne’s quiet little sobbings, they meant nothing to him. Her skin was too small, too afraid for him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A smell came upon the air. The smell of life, of spirits and torment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Of madness. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The maw turned to see a battered man. Beside him was a whole one, but old, holding a gun down by his side. There was no one he could shoot, his soul turned to ash and shattered away. His spirit was nearly crushed, crumpling with nearly every second. Yet they stood. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thomas’ Spirit licked his lips. Thomas’ body shook. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Maw grinned as he took in the sight.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This one… he would not get away. Not again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just when Thomas had found himself whole once more, he was torn apart again, but this time, his physical self was lost, the Maw tearing into his skin and killing his body slowly, and so long. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Lily was alone now, with only her demons to give her company, her father expunged and her sister gone as soon as she had come. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Petrichor</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The Neutral Ending.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Marianne’s eyes opened in shock, because surely she had not fired the gun. Surely her finger was away from the trigger, surely she should be dead now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her eyes saw red, first. Blossoming on her sister’s thin chest. They stared at one another, and then Lily sighed and fell forward to rest. As she fell, Marianne lunged forward to catch her, the gun falling out of her hand, yet her eyes remained where Lily had been. Beyond her was an old man with grey hair and sad clear eyes. The moustache above his lip trembled, his hands shook around his gun. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thomas?” Marianne asked in near silence, unable to contain the emotion cracking her voice. She felt relief, confusion, a measure of anger, but most of all-- sadness.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know your intentions were noble,” he whispered, his footfalls firm despite a weakening frame. “I know, Marianne.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Then why did you--” Marianne clutched her sister’s corpse tighter to herself, as if her warmth and spirit could awaken her. Of course not, but she still felt something had changed around them. It was calmer. At peace. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Because even if you were to d--” he choked on the word, inhaled, and steeled himself to continue, tears cleansing the dirt on his cheeks. “To die-- the maw would live on.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clarity dawned on Marianne.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It simply would not ever be satisfied.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Marianne closed her eyes. Arms wrapped around her, and as she began to cry, a renewing rain drizzled down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It would be okay.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Absolution</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The Good Ending.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Time stopped, and then, now, in the future, Thomas stopped them. All of them, including himself. They all stared at one another, the four of them-- Marianne, Sadness, the Maw, and Spirit Thomas. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The last two locked eyes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If Lilianne sold away herself for the freedom of the Maw, then it was his responsibility to annul that vow and take it upon himself. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He said so, and though Sadness and Marianne protested, he hushed them with a confident smile. Confidence… it had been gone for so long, trapped away. At least they would die as one, now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He sat down, and his body set aside the gun, his gaze meeting Lilianne’s, then Marianne’s. They would know what to do. He would endure the same fate that he had prescribed to them. Just as he endured two decades of torture within Henry’s mind, and the torment that had come with Richard, he would endure. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Maw entering within someone was a sickening relief as a body that was not your own tried to fit. Like someone wearing your shoe while it was on your own foot, moulding around what was within to smother and choke it out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thomas then walked to the bunker. There were instructions in the magazine of the gun, Marianne was meticulous, she would find them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He would be buried in this tomb he made for his daughter, the entire surrounding barraged with salt. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Thomas would endure the Maw.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His daughters, though… would walk free, and live happily.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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